Tragedy as toxic berry leads to death of baby

An eight-month-old baby escaped being poisoned when he ate a toxic berry but died anyway when it went down his respiratory tract and got stuck in his lungs.

Baby Mateo was reportedly playing around with his elder brother in their garden in when he ate a berry from an ornamental Chinese privet.

Also known as Ligustrum sinense, it is toxic to animals and humans, and can be fatal if more than a few berries are eaten.

The baby - from Posadas, Argentina - however ingested and it went into his lung, and he was left choking as he was rushed to hospital where he suffered cardiac arrest.

Freddy Villalba, Mateo’s father, said that doctors at the centre did their best to help his son until he was taken to the Paediatric Hospital in the city of Posadas where he went into a coma despite constant assistance.

On Thursday, doctors confirmed the tot had suffered “brain death” before announcing his final death.

Local media report that the boy died from “suffocation by a foreign body”, according to medical reports.

Originally published on 7News.